UK PARLIAMENT

30 January 2017

Written question on fracking demonstrations

Question by Graham Jones Labour, Hyndburn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of monitoring and policing anti-fracking protests since 2010 in (a) Lancashire and (b) the UK.

Reply by Brandon Lewis, Home Office Minister, Conservative, Great Yarmouth

It is an operational decision for Chief Constables, working with their applicable Police and Crime Commissioner to determine the levels of resources required for the police to monitor and manage such events.

1 February 2017

Written questions on health and fracking

Question by Mark Menzies, Conservative, Fylde

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 21 November 2016 to Questions 54021, 54017, 54073 and 57074, which recommendations of the Director of Public Health at Lancashire County Council’s rapid health impact assessment of the shale gas exploratory stage at Roseacre Wood and Preston New Road are relevant to Public Health England’s responsibilities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 21 November 2016 to Questions 54021, 54017, 54073 and 54074, what steps Public Health England is taking on the recommendations of the Director of Public Health at Lancashire County Council’s rapid health impact assessment of the shale gas exploratory stage at Roseacre Wood and Preston New Road.

The report included four recommendations with specific reference to Public Health England (PHE) as well as other Government Departments, Agencies or allied organisations (R2, R41, R43 and R45). PHE provided the DPH with an update on three of recommendations (R41, R43 and R45) in December 2016.

PHE’s ongoing work includes the provision of advice to planning bodies and regulators to ensure that local concerns and public health risks are adequately addressed; attending local public engagement events and where requested assisting local agencies and partners in the investigation of health related concerns. PHE is also scoping the feasibility of health surveillance projects. Any such studies or investigations will require careful design consideration and engagement with relevant stakeholders, as well as appropriate resourcing. PHE continues to review the evidence on the potential public health impacts of emissions associated with shale gas extraction and aims to develop health impact assessment tools and guidance for local public health teams.

Certainly in this particular reply it is vague and not at all reassuring. It beggars belief that the UK government is allowing oil, gas and chemical companies as well as investment companies to kick off an extraction industry that has proven in the US over and over again to be extremely damaging to the land, air and water and therefore people’s health. People are sick and dying as a result of contaminated water and air pollution in the US where shale gas is extracted via fracking. Surely everyone by now has see the US documentary Gasland by Josh Fox. As a side note: the shale gas from Pennsylvania (featured in Gasland) is being shipped to the INEOS plant in Grangemouth for industrial use thanks to https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/sep/27/first-shipment-of-fracked-shale-gas-set-to-arrive-in-uk
Everything about extracting more fossil fuels is wrong, wrong, wrong. This government is doing very little from what I can see to take leadership in weaning the UK off dirty energy onto clean energy.